Fencepost



lf/ f V rml Nov. 18, 1924. 1,516,179

H. L FERRIs t FEN'cEPosT Filed Feb. 8, 1923 lllillll umu I lllllllllll f4.

Patented Nov. 18, 1924.

l ET E n S T 'l S HENRY L. FERRIs, or HARVARD, ILLINOIS, AssIGNoR To HUNT-HELM-RERRIS a COMPANY, or HARVARD, ILLINOIs, A CORPORATION or ILLINOIS.

FENGEPOST.

Application filed February 8, 1923. Serial No. 617,863.

1o all 107mm t lmay concern.'

Be it known that I, HENRY Il. FnRRIs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Harvard, in the. county of McHenry and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fenceposts, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to fence posts, particularly those of rolled structural shapes and means for fastening wires thereto and is fully described in the following specifica tion, and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a partial front elevation of a post embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged top line view of the same and Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 3 of Fig. 1.

The embodiment illustrated comprises a fence post of substantially I-beam construction, having a web 10, and laterally eXtending flanges 11, 12, 13 and 14. This construction is not of true I-beam form, web 10 being placed off center so as to make the flanges 11 and 13 wider than 12 and 14. The web 10 is also preferably made arcuate, the outer surface of the web lying substantially on the same plane as the outer edges 12 and 13.

These fence posts are usually rolled from old T-rails which aie very hard and which owing to the thinness of the metal, frequently cannot be rolled in channel form with the desired widt-h of flange, without reheating the metal which of course, adds greatly to thc cost of production and de creases the efficiency of the rolling mill. This difficulty is overcome in this form of fence post, by moving the web 10 bodily inward and thereby greatly reducing the width of the flange 11, from what would be required in a channel with a flange of the same width and substituting therefor a shallow flange 12. In order then to obtain a straight central portion of the web, to which the wire fence would be secured, the web 10, is rolled outwardly until it is lying substantially in the plane of the edges of the flanges 12 and 141.

A series of slots 15, are uniformly spaced lengthwise in the center of the web 10.

A fastener 16 of wire or the like, is provided at its upper end with a hook 17, which is adapted to engage over the lower edge of one of the holes, while the opposite end 18 kwhich extends substantially at right anglesv to the fastener passes through the next lower slot 15. hump 19 is formed at the junction of the end 18V with the fastener 16, which is adapted to enclose the fence wire 20. This fastener is applied by inserting the hooked end 17 through the upper hole 15 and swinging the lower end 18 into the lower hole 15, the entire fastener being swung about the upper hooked end 17. The width of the hook 17, is so regulated as to permit the fastener to be readily removed when the operator raises up on the fastener so as to press the end 18 against the upper edge of the lower hole 15. When, however, 'the fastener isforced down by its own weight, or'

bythe weight of the wire 20L which it supports, more of the metal betweeny the openings 15 is enclosed within the hook 17 and consequently the fastener can be swung outwardly only by distorting somewhat the metal of the hook 17.

It will therefore, be seen that by this arrangement the fastener 16 can be used for putting up a temporary fence and that when it is desired to take down the wires of this fence, they can be readily removed without the use of tools, as previously explained.

In order to lock the fastener tol the post, I have provided a lever 21, having an opening 22, which is adapted to lit over the end 18. By swinging this lever outwardly the end 18 is forced over into theposition 18a and at the same time the member 19 is drawn down into the dotted line position 19a, thereby firmly securing the fastener to 'the post.

By spacing the Openings 15 uniformly particularly at the bot-tom of the post, two of the fasteners 16 will pass through the' opposite ends of the single slot as shown in F ig. 1, thus permitting the wires 2O to be spaced quite close together. At the top as many openings may be passed over as de sired, thus permitting a wide' variety of spacing of the wires at different heights of the fence.

It will be observed that while it is desirable to use the lever 21 for bending over the end of the fastener, this operation may be performed in other ways, as by means of a hammer.

While I have shown and described but a single embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the cmistriuxtion and arrangement may be made, which do vnot depart from the spirit and scope of iny invention, as disclosed in the appended claims, in which it is 1n-y inten tion to cover all novelty inherent in the invention, as broadly as possible, in View of the prior art.

lVhat l claini as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In combination, a fence post having spaced holes, a fastener' having a curved end adapted to hook' over the edge of one of said holes, a hump Vfor receiving a Wire to be held and a straight end portion adapted fto swing about said hook through the next adjacent 'hole and lto be so ben't as to retain said 'fastener on the post, said holes being` uniforinl)7 spaced so that `fasteners may be secured. between each pair of adjacent ho-les.

2. ln combination, a fence post having spaced holes, a fastener 'having a curved end adapted to hook over the edge of one of said holes, the opposite end being bent substantially at right angles to the body and adapted `to pass snugly through the next adjacent hole and to be bent thereon so as yto retain the fastener on the post.

In con'ibina'tion, a l'enoe post having; spaced holes, a fastener having` a curved end adapted to engage one of said holes, the opposite-end being` bent substantially at right angles to the body and adapted to pass snugly through the next adjacent hole and to be bent thereon so as to retain the fastener on the post, said fastener having a l'hump adjacent `the last-mentioned end adapted to receive a 'Wire to be fastened to the post so that as said opposite end is bent down the hump is `tightened about said Wire.

4. In combination, a fence vpost havingl spaced holes, a fastener having a body bent back upon itself to forni a curved end Iadapted to be vhooked over the edgeofone of said holes and a second end 'extending substantial-ly at right angles to the body and lying on vthe saine Vside thereof as the curved end, said curved end being so formed as to per.- mit Ithe fastener to lbe swung lout about the edge of the upper hole as a fulcruin until the second end clears the post when the fastener may be inov'ed bodily up until the hook is disengaged, and a liuinp in the body of said hook for retaining a Wire between said fastener and fence post.

HENRY L. FERRIS. 

